Sam Jacob Studio designs a spiralling extension to a former...

Sam Jacob Studio designs a spiralling extension to a former pub in Shoreditch

Former FAT director Sam Jacob has received the go-ahead for a U-shaped extension to a Victorian former pub, now home to a community centre in Shoreditch.

Its curving form matches the bend of where Ivy Street meets the adjacent Hoxton Street. Jacob will also renovate the rundown pub building, restore its facade and integrate an apartment as part of the extension.

‘The project guarantees the survival of Ivy Street Family Centre in a location they’ve been for over 30 years,’ said Jacob.

‘The pub structure is pretty dilapidated at the moment – that’s what sparked the development.’

Diamond-shaped windows perforate the extension’s curved facade, which is topped by timber-clad roof pavilions. One of these echoes the cylindrical form of American water towers.

Jacob’s design is also intended to balance the hotchpotch of architecture surrounding the pub – including a 1970s housing block on one side and a Victorian school on the other – caused by war bombings and planned demolitions.

‘It’s an unusual site,’ added Jacob. ‘It’s very much an accident because of what’s gone on there over the past 200 years.’